


Trashmouth & Spaghetti Head

by WhipYourPorsche



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Fix-It, M/M, Reddie, Sort of canon divergence, Strong Language, but you knew that already, cause duh killer clown, technically there's a little bit of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 22:43:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20731922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhipYourPorsche/pseuds/WhipYourPorsche
Summary: What if Richie hadn't kept his feelings to himself?





	Trashmouth & Spaghetti Head

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for the title, I am extremely bad at titles.

When Richie had gotten a call from Mike Hanlon, he had directly felt sick in the stomach. He quickly forgot that he had a show in a few minutes and rushed outside to throw up, not his most glorious moment. But as soon as the sick feeling started to leave, the fear settled in, and he started shaking violently, not truly knowing why. All that he could remember were feelings, not thoughts. He remembered shame, frustration, disgust, and anger, all at the same time, without any good reason. He felt like throwing up again, but his agent appeared and rushed him inside, telling him he was on in a couple of minutes. He managed to pull himself away from his thoughts enough to ask for bourbon and a mint, then got a hold of himself and walked up on stage, thinking that all his forgotten memories were going to kindly stay in a far corner of his mind until his show was over, when he’d have the time to actually process all that had just happened. He started his show as usual and slowly calmed down until he mentioned his “stage name”, Richie Trashmouth… Memories came flooding back once more, but more concrete this time, voices and faces, jokes and insults… Soon he had forgotten his joke and was booed by the audience, but he took a minute to calm down, drank some water, and did what he did best, he improvised. He invented a shitty excuse and somehow turned it into a joke, making the crowd think that his “I forgot my joke” line was actually part of his show. They all bought it and this particular show came to be known as one of his most successful.

Once the show ended and the lights turned off, Richie didn’t stay for the usual praise, instead he hurried out of the building and to his car, then drove to his hotel as fast as possible. He changed into a simple pair of jeans, a shirt, t-shirt and a leather jacket, then packed all that he had taken with him in his car – which was only his “stage clothes” and a duffle bag containing underwear, a pair of pants, t-shirt, and a hoodie. He texted his manager “family emergency in maine, will be there in reno, see you.” and, without waiting for an answer, drove to the town he had grown up in, more and more memories coming back to him as he was getting closer to Derry. But one particular memory almost made him loose control of his car. The close friend he had had particular feelings for… Feelings he had never been able to forget, although he had never been able to remember who he had them for… And he still couldn’t. Then he suddenly felt a shockingly violent pain on the palm of his hand. He groaned as he let go of the wheel to look at it and see a scar he had never noticed before… Then he remembered the blood pact, how he had sworn that if IT ever came back, he’d come back too… He swore loudly and drove faster as the fear settled in once more, trying to remember more but being unable to. After long hours, he finally reached Derry and directly drove to the Town House. He booked a room and slept for a while, until it was time to go to the restaurant Mike had invited him and _the others_ to, so he drove there with his heart pounding in his chest. He had had no trouble remembering who _the others _were. Bill, Beverly, Ben, Stanley, and Eddie spaghetti of course. As soon as he got out of his car, he saw Beverly embracing a slimmer, taller, and much more handsome version of Ben.

“Wow, you two look amazing.” _He said sincerely_

His two childhood friends turned their heads towards him.

“What the fuck happened to me?”

They both laughed as Richie smiled and hugged them both in turn, actually glad to see them again, Beverly’s embrace bringing even more memories back. He instantly knew they had been very close, but he also knew the feelings he had were neither for her, nor for _Haystack_. They exchanged a knowing smile and Richie winked. The three of them stepped inside and walked towards the table Mike had booked them, seeing that everyone save for Stanley was already there. He saw a gong and couldn’t resist. He took the stick and hit it, immediately getting everyone’s attention.

“The meeting of the Losers Club has officially begun.”

They all laughed and soon he felt very familiar arms around his neck. He smiled and wrapped his arms around Eddie’s waist.

“How are you, spaghetti head?”  
“Oh, don’t start Richie.” _The tone was annoyed but he heard the smile in Eddie’s voice_

He laughed and when he patted his friend’s back, it hit him. It was him. The feelings he had had during his whole childhood had been for Eddie, the feelings he had never managed to get over, the feelings that were now stronger than ever, because he could fully understand them for the first time in his life.  
And suddenly he remembered trying to confess his feelings to Eddie, back when they were just kids. He had slipped a note in his locker at school, hoping that he’d figure out whom it was from all on his own and that they’d live happily together. But he never had figured it out, he had thought someone was playing a bad joke on him and had angrily thrown the poem Richie had worked on for weeks in the trash. But when a heart-broken Richie had gone back to the trash to take back what he had considered his finest work of art, it hadn’t been there, and he had been scared that Bowers and his friends had found it and figured it out until, one day, when he had been invited at Eddie’s, he saw it on his desk, in his room.

“You actually kept that fucking thing?” _He had said as coolly as possible, trying not to smile_  
“Yeah, so what?!” _Eddie asked aggressively_  
“I thought you said it was a bad joke.”  
“Yeah, well maybe it wasn’t and someone actually likes me. And why do you fucking care?!”  
“I don’t! Now let’s go to the arcade, your room’s fucking boring.”

And that had been the end of it, they had never once again even mentioned the poem. But now that they were adults, and that they remembered each other, Richie realized that maybe he had a shot at this, he just had to confess his feelings. He smiled at the prospect of having a shot at **true** happiness. Because he had been quite happy, but never truly. He had been married to a wonderful woman, had dated amazing men and women, and he was now a famous comedian across the US and even overseas, but he had always felt terribly alone because of these feelings he had for an unknown person. And now he remembered, and even if his feelings may be unrequited, at least he would have closure. He finally let go of Eddie and chuckled, feeling obliged to crack a joke.

“Wow, you have not grown up at all!”  
_Eddie sighed but smiled a bit _“Fuck you, Trashmouth.”  
_He laughed _“Fuck yoou!”

They laughed once more, took their seats and the evening passed quickly and pleasantly, until he learned that Eddie was married… To a woman… Oh, and then Chinese fortune cookies tried to murder them, and they learned that Stan had committed suicide... So he thought _fuck this _and decided he’d leave Derry for good. Fuck his feelings because Eddie was straight and married, fuck his happiness because he’d never have it without Eds, fuck all of this, as long as he was fucking alive. So he drove back to the Derry Town House, closely followed by the others. They all arrived at the same time and went up to their rooms. But when Richie reached his room, he grabbed Eddie’s arm to stop him, surprising himself as much as the other man.

“What the fuck are you doing Richie? I’m in room 609.”  
“Just wait… Can we talk before we leave?”  
_Eddie sighed _“Sure, what is it?”  
“Come to my room.”

Richie could see Eddie was in a hurry and reluctant, but he agreed anyway, maybe because of the rare serious look in his friend’s eyes. Richie opened the door to his room and took a deep breath once both he and his friend were in.

“Okay, please make it quick, I want to go home.” _Eddie said_  
“Yeah, sure…”

He hesitated and froze… A part of him thought that he couldn’t tell Eddie this now, he was happily married… But the other part thought _“Who fucking cares?! You’re going to forget all about each other again in a few hours anyway!” _And just as he had decided to tell him, Eddie interrupted his thoughts.

“Hello! Earth to Richie!”  
“Yeah, yeah sorry… It’s just… Remember the poem from the secret admirer that you received when we were kids?”  
“The poem… What fucking poem?!”  
“The one that was in your locker.”

He could see Eddie was trying hard to remember, and then he gasped.

“Aaah, yes that one!” _He laughed _“It was so funny, really sweet and… almost insulting at the same time, really nice.”  
“So you actually liked it?”  
_Eddie shrugged _“Yeah, it was cute.”

Richie smiled. He had never even considered that Eddie had actually liked his poem, he had always thought that he had liked the intention, and that that was the reason why he had kept it on his desk.

“So what about it?” _Eddie asked, more calmly this time_  
“Well I err… I know who wrote it.”  
_He frowned _“You do? And you never told me?”  
“No, I didn’t…”  
“Why the fuck not?” _He was still half-laughing, and that encourage Richie_  
“Because I fucking wrote it.”

It was Eddie’s turn to freeze this time. Richie sighed and looked down at his feet, then he chuckled.

“I was too scared to actually tell you that I liked your stupid spaghetti head…” _Eddie chuckled and Richie smiled _“So I wrote a stupid poem and I thought you’d miraculously figure out it was from me all on your own and that you’d tell me you liked me too. Just forget it, it was fucking stupid anyway I– ”  
“Do you still like me?” _Eddie cut_

Richie looked up at his friend and frowned.

“I… What?”  
“Do you still like me?”

_Come on Trashmouth, _he told himself, _you made it this far, don’t be a fucking pussy now and just tell him. You faced a motherfucking killer clown when you were a child, confessing your feelings should be a piece of cake! _He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath before looking back at Eddie.

“I do.” _He said, surprisingly calmly _“I do like you, and I know you don’t like me back because you’re straight, and married, and happy, and I don’t want to get in the way of that, because I’m actually happy that you have the good and boring life you’ve always wanted.” _Eddie chuckled once more at that _“But all my life I’ve had these feelings and I didn’t know who they were for or why the fuck they were even there, and now I do know I wanted to tell you, so I can move on I guess… So… Yeah, there you go.”

An awkward silence settled in as Richie buried his hands in his jacket pockets and Eddie stammered, seemingly at loss for words. Richie sighed of relief, finding that getting this off his chest was really freeing. He finally broke the silence.

“Anyway, you should probably go to your room and pack now.”

He turned away and walked to his bed to grab his unopened duffle bag, when suddenly he heard Eddie speak.

“I like you too.”

He froze for a few seconds and then turned around to look at him.

“What?”

Eddie panicked and started talking really fast as he usually did when he was a kid.

“I like you too and it’s the same for me, I’ve always had feelings for someone and I didn’t know who so I thought that getting married was going to help me get over those feelings but it didn’t because I was also trying to escape the fact that I don’t like girls and now I’m stuck with a woman who always act like my fucking mom did when I was a kid and I can’t escape this situation because I don’t know how to tell her that I’m actually gay and that I started dating her because she reminded me of my mom and how safe and loved I felt with her, you get it?”

Richie didn’t answer verbally, instead he walked towards Eddie and pressed his lips against his, his heart beating way too fast. He quickly felt Eddie’s arms around his neck and wrapped his around his friend’s waist, slowly deepening the kiss. When he needed air, Richie pulled away and both men looked at each other with tender smiles, understanding each other without even having to speak. Richie was about to kiss Eddie again when he heard someone clearing their throat. They both looked to the open door to see Bill standing there, smiling.

“Sorry to interrupt guys.”

They pulled away from each other and looked in opposite directions.

“Interrupt what?” _Said Richie _“You’re not interrupting anything…”  
“Yeah Bill,” _added Eddie _“no idea what you’re talking about.”  
“Of course... Anyway, you’ll have more time to make out later, right now come to the lobby, we have something serious to talk about.”

Richie and Eddie exchanged a worried look and followed their friend to the lobby. After a moment of hesitation, Richie took Eddie’s hand in his own while they were walking. He had spent 27 years loving him without being able to even remember him, and now he was decided to spend as much time with him as he possibly could.

\--

_24 hours later_

“You wanna play truth or dare?! Here’s the truth, you’re a sloppy bitch! Yeah, that’s right! Let’s dance! Yippee-ki-yay, motherfu–”

And then his mind was gone, belonging to It... Until he felt lips on his. He regained control of himself and saw Eddie leaned over him, smiling widely. He quickly realized what had happened. He had seen the Deadlights, and it had shown him something that was going to happen which paralyzed Richie completely… Eddie was about to die… He could see his lips moving but he was unable to make out what he was saying, and then he saw it… It was about to attack him, to kill him… He panicked but managed to control his body once more, he wasn’t going to let It take Eddie away from him, fuck no. As quickly as he could, he put his arms around Eddie, pulled him against him and rolled to the right, narrowly dodging It’s… Arm? Hand? Paw? Claw? He didn’t know what that was, but he had rolled them both the fuck away from it. They quickly got up and ran away hand in hand towards the others. They all hid and Richie felt like he couldn’t breathe, Eddie had almost been taken away from him. _But he’s alive and well! He saved you, and then you saved him! _He was still panicking when he felt arms around his neck and a hand in his hair.

“We almost died Rich! Fuck! We almost fucking died!”

Richie held him strongly and the mere contact of Eddie against him was enough to calm him down slowly.

“But we didn’t Eds… We… We’re alive, both of us. You saved me, and I saved you, and thank you by the way.”

Eddie nodded and then kissed Richie’s cheek, then thanked him as well. They looked at each other and smiled, calming themselves down before making a plan with the others.

_ \--_

_3 hours later_

They had killed It for good, they were sure of it this time, and they were all extremely fucking relieved. They had cleaned themselves in Derry’s sewage water, Eddie complaining about all the diseases they could possibly get, making them all laugh and splash him, exasperating him even more until he finally loosened up and had some fun with them. Soon they were all back at the Derry Town House and took proper showers this time. They had decided to go have lunch together and all had to wait for Eddie, who took approximately 30 minutes, probably showering very thoroughly at least three times. When they were finally all reunited, they walked downtown, ate, and finally said their goodbyes, kissing each other’s cheeks and embracing, promising to keep in contact if they didn’t forget all about the other Losers. Richie and Eddie packed their luggage and met in front of their cars. They held hands and smiled.

“Well, I’m gonna go back to New York and divorce my wife, then I’ll come live with you in Beverly Hills so we can feel like superstars together.” _Eddie declared_  
_ Richie smiled_ “That sounds like a plan. I have to go back home now and then go to Reno for the last show of my tour. After that I’ll help you move in and we’ll see for the rest.”  
“So you’ll travel a lot…”  
“Yeah, but you can come with me, see some of my shows, visit the country, all that.”  
“I’d love to.”

Eddie smiled sweetly and Richie’s own smile widened as he leaned in and kissed the man he loved. They embraced for a moment, then pulled away and said their “see you later”. But just as Eddie was about to leave, Richie stopped him.

“Wait, before you go, I want to show you something.”  
“Sure, what is it?”  
“Come in my car, I’ll drive there.”  
“What? Rich, I have to go.”  
“Yeah, me too, my plane’s taking off soon, but it’ll take 10 minutes tops.”  
_Eddie sighed _“Fine.”

They both got into Richie’s car and he drove to the kissing bridge, wanting to show him the carving he had made. They arrived 5 minutes later and Richie walked to the exact spot where he had carved “R + E” about 27 years ago.

“Right here, see?”

Eddie looked at it and laughed, then he cupped Richie’s cheeks and gave him a tender smoosh.

“You, are adorable.”  
“What? Fuck off, I’m not adorable, if anything I’m hot.”  
_Eddie laughed _“Yeah Trashmouth, you’re hot. But you’re also adorable.”  
“Pff.”

Eddie only laughed more as he let go of him and looked at the craving with a fond smile. Richie took a knife out of his pocket.

“Wanna re-carve it together, spaghetti head?”

They exchanged a smile and both crouched down. Richie easily re-carved “R +” and Eddie managed to re-carve “E” after some effort. They got up at the same time and Richie put his arm around his lover’s shoulders, admiring their work of art. Eddie rested his head on his shoulder and held his hand, smiling even more widely when he felt a kiss on his head. They stayed liked that for another minute or so and then finally let go of each other and drove back to the Town House. They exchanged another kiss and parted way as Eddie drove towards New York and Richie towards Bangor Airport, both smiling like idiots the whole way.

They saw each other again 2 weeks later, when Richie’s tour was over. Not able to wait any longer, he had taken a plane to New York to catch up with his lover. He quickly learned that Eddie had started the procedure to divorce his wife and that it would take approximately 3 months, but that Myra, his soon to be ex-wife, had surprisingly been nothing but cooperative and understanding of his feelings. Eddie had also informed his employer that he would quit in three months to move to California. Everything seemed to be going their way.

During the next 2 and a half months, Richie stayed in California to write his own show, calling Eddie everyday as he had made the decision to stay in New York to facilitate his divorce. It all went smoothly and time passed by quite quickly.

The date quickly came when Eddie took everything that belonged to him and sent it all to Beverly Hills, to be delivered at the address of a certain Richard Tozier. They re-arranged Richie’s house to both their tastes and invited Bill, Ben, Beverly and Mike to the housewarming party, noticing with delight that they had not at all forgotten about each other. They drank, ate, laughed and had fun the whole day long. Life could not have been any better for Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak – who later in life became Eddie Tozier until the day he died.


End file.
